El Parque Here I Come!

Dear Family!

I'm actually in the field! I have so many feelings, but the most prominent is excitement!  My trainers name is Hermana Altamirano! She is from Peru and I already love her!  We are going to get along so well!  The name of the sector is El Parque. I am so ready to get to work!  I love you so much!

Love,

Hermana Flake

 President and Hermana Wright

 New missionaries

Trainers with new missionaries

One Week Left in the CCM!

Hello Everyone!

Life in Chile is still fantastic! The weather is starting to get super warm! Spring is finally coming. The sun is always out and they have turned all of the fountains on around the temple and CCM. It is so beautiful here! 

I have had a super good week! It started out with all of the missionaries going to Santiago North leaving for the mission field! And we got a bunch of Latinos living with us in Alcantara! It is so fun! Hermana Stokes and I have two new roommates. Hna Ponce from Mexico and Hna Alcantara from Peru! They are the sweetest! They help us so much with our Spanish and we teach them things in English. Sometimes we have to do charades to figure out what is going on, but it's alright! We learn so much! On Sunday we taught them how to say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! It was hilarious hearing them pronounce it! We also got new teachers. Hermano Retamal, Hermano Torres, and Hermano Rossi. They are all awesome! 

This Sunday was the first one that was in complete Spanish! It was so difficult. We listened to a MTC Devotional given in June by D Todd Christofferson.. and I did not understand any of it. My mind was in a fog and it was so difficult! But its ok. Because then we had a discussion and I was able to make a few comments. The whole day Presidente Doll kept looking at me. And I stupidly kept making comments.. So I should have known that I would be the first speaker in Sacrament Meeting. I had prepared a pretty good talk. I think. Haha, it was about Faith in Jesus Christ. I just talked about how faith is action, not only belief. I think it turned out pretty well. The Latina Hermanas said I didn't pronounce anything TOO wrong. I was able to share a few experiences which is a huge accomplishment for me! Because preterit and imperfect are super difficult for me! 

This next week is going to be crazy! We are going contacting on Thursday. So it will be me and hermana stokes.. alone! We get to go on the metro and go to a park and just contact people and try to get some referrals! And then on Friday we actually go on splits with missionaries. We aren't sure what mission yet. Probably West or South! It would be cool to see somewhere that Hyrum and Devin were! I am super scared! But it will be so great! One week from today I will be with my mission president and he will be introducing me to my trainer! And then I get to go to my new area and get started on the work! Things are moving so quickly. Life is so great here! I love missionary work and being here! It really is the best thing in the world! I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Flake

One Month Down!

Hello Everyone!

Well, today marks my first month on the mission! Where has the time gone? I really feel like I just got here! This week was full of good food and learning a lot of Spanish. So... pretty much the usual!

We have been learning a lot about grammar and wow, it all pretty much goes over my head. But it is so helpful! Today we went shopping and we were talking to a woman named Ruth. It was so great! It was my first full conversation with someone out in the streets. We talked about her name being from the Bible and meaning faithful. And then we told her we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was exciting to try to talk to people! 

This morning another group of missionaries left for the field. It is crazy! We are now the oldest group here and we'll be leaving in 2 weeks! I can't wait! 

We met our mission president on Sunday! President and Hermana Wright! They are so so great. They were giving a devotional for the young single adults and we asked if we could see them. So we got to go in a classroom and talk for 15 minutes. They talked about all of the different things we do in our mission. And it got me so excited! I cannot wait to go out into the field! 

I have no idea how, but the Spanish is coming. The fact that I can have an actual conversation with someone on the street is so insane. But I definitely know it is the gift of tongues. I feel so much help!

Tomorrow a new group of missionaries come. They are all Latinos and most of them are going to the Santiago East mission. There will be 9 new hermanas living with us! It will be packed. We will have to start speaking a lot more Spanish. But it will be really good for us! 

That pretty much sums up my week! It has been great and I am excited for this next one! A week from Thursday we get to go out on the Metro and contact people in parks. And the next day we go on splits with missionaries in a different mission and spend the whole day with them! It is starting to feel real! I love it here so much. I am learning so much and growing so much!

Love,

Hermana Flake

                                                           

Chile is the Best!

Wow, I can't believe I have already been here for three weeks. Time is crazy here! So this week was a little interesting. Hermana Eaton went home. It was super hard and difficult to have her go home. But I think it was for the best. She left on Thursday and Hermana Stokes and I felt so weird for the next couple of days. We were constantly feeling like a part of us was missing. We miss her so much still!

I have also been super super sick this week. They sent me back to Alcantara one afternoon because Hermana Doll, the CCM President's wife, said I looked like I was dying. I felt like such a baby not being at the CCM and working hard. But I have been sucking it up and getting through the days! I love it here so much!

I had my first fast sunday in Chile this week! It was such an awesome experience. A lot of Sacrament Meeting was in English because people were bearing their testimonies and couldn't say them all in Spanish. I am so exhausted from learning Spanish. But it is coming along! I have days where it goes super well and I understand and can speak. And then somedays where I can't do anything. But it is incredible how much help I am receiving from my Heavenly Father. I am learning so much!

On Tuesday we went to the temple. It was so fantastic! I love how much better I feel after going. It gives me the motivation to continue working hard even though I am so tired! 

All in all, this week was a little crazy. But so many good things happened! We taught a lesson to one of our teachers and he said he could tell that we were trying to apply everything we had learned from the CCM into our lesson. He said we did great. Things like that give me hope that the language will come. It might take a few months, but I'll be fluent soon! I love you all! Thank you for writing!

Love,

Hermana Flake

                                          Eating a Completo

 The Gilberts who ran the Alcantara

 On the bus to the CCM

On the street of Pedro de Valdivia in Santiago

Two Hermana Flakes! One from Utah and the other is from Washington D.C.  Both are descendants of William Jordan Flake.

   In front of the CCM

                                                             

New group at the Alcantara